WHILE it could be said the morning starters had the better of the conditions in the stableford competition at the Blue Lake Golf Club on Saturday, it was only relative as they also faced bleak weather.
Full credit to all who played and while overall numbers were down, only players players failed to finish.
Final scores were credible, with Nick Wilson adapting to the weather the best with a superb 39 stableford points, 21 of those on the back nine with a 34 off the stick.
The eighth was the only hole that featured some red ink, where he scrambled a point with a double-bogey, but it was a workmanlike 18 points in all on the outward nine.
Birdies on the 11th and 15th holes were scattered among six pars with his only blemish being the long par 3 14th hole.
It was an awesome display of golf and he was a very deserved overall winner.
B Grade golfers filled the next three positions, with the best of those Michael Olle.
After a tardy start, finding the trees on his first hole (10th), he still scrambled a point.
He quickly made up for that with a par on the next hole and that set the scene for his opening half, with four pars and three double-bogeys.
A scrub on the first hole was made up for with successive pars and from then on it was solid golf that saw him take the grade win with splits of 19 and 18 points.
Playing partner Justin Ploenges survived a count-back to clinch second place from Daniel Loupos.
Like Olle, Ploenges had his high points, with pars on some of the harder holes, but gave back too many with double-bogeys littering his scorecard.
Starting on the 10th hole, Ploenges would have been happy with his pars on the 17th and 18th helping him to 17 points and a 36 total.
Loupos had the round of the day going after nine holes with a superb start, recording four three-point holes on his way to 21 points.
Anything close to that on the back nine would have seen him threaten Wilson for the outright win, but he could not quite get the putts to drop.
A wipe on the 17th hole saw him drop to just 15 points and out of contention.
In an anomaly, the A Grade golfers all struggled, with Anthony Williams taking the win with just 32 points.
One of the club’s scratch handicappers, Williams had his troubles early with a wipe on the first hole, but he recouped one of those dropped points with a birdie on the second.
It was then a long wait for his next, making short work of the dog leg ninth hole to escape with 16 points.
It was a similar story on the back nine, with the 14th hole giving him trouble before a birdie on the 17th saw him finish with equal splits of 16 points.
Williams was surprised his score was enough to get him into a count-back for a prize, much less take out the win, but it could be argued Tim Smith gifted it to him.
After a great opening of 20 points, Smith failed to capitalise, frustratingly turning pars into bogeys.
He was still sitting pretty after 16 holes and 31 points, but a surprising wipe on the reachable 17th was exacerbated with a double-bogey on the last to finish with just one more point and see him also lose out to Williams.
Third-placed Trevor Little is normally the model of consistency, but he was behind the eightball from the start, with wipes on the second and third holes, to turn with just 12 points.
He showed his mettle by bouncing back with an even par 35 on the inward nine for 18 points.
It was a tight finish in C Grade with both Jake Hollis and Keiren Weistra deserving of the win after they returned a credible 35 points.
Recording the same amount of points on each nine of 17 and 18 points, it came down to a double count-back going to the player with the better last six holes.
That was close as well, with Hollis just getting over the line with 14 points against Weistra’s 13.
While Hollis had the advantage in handicaps – 36 against Weistra’s 30 – the latter could blame the non scoring 13th hole for his loss.
Veteran Russell Lingham adapted to the conditions he has seen many times before to take the last remaining prize with a solid 34, turning back the clock with three pars on the inward nine for 18 points.
While scores were relatively low in the ball count down, they were richly deserved and a small reward for battling the 18 holes.
Ball winners included Garth Ransom, Stephen Von Duve 35, David Adkins, Thomas Von Stanke 34, Stephen Smith 33, Mario Mancuso, Sam Bradbrook 32, Brian Dunn 31, Brenton Speck and Ken Milsop with 30 points.
Accolades to Jake Matthews who eagled the 15th hole and Doug Robbins for his pro shot on the fifth, while Hollis also took out the nearest the pin for C Grade.
